JUPITER, Fla. — If not for shoulder fatigue that chased Alex Meyer from his final start of 2014, the talented Twins right-hander would have made his big-league debut last September out of the bullpen.

That was the plan at the time.

No longer.

Twins manager Paul Molitor said again Saturday — this time even more definitively — he doesn’t see taking the 25-year-old right-hander north as a member of his bullpen.

“I would say the odds on that are pretty long — pretty long,” Molitor said. “We want to build him up to start, and he’s a little bit behind. But I would think right now the odds of that happening in the short term are fairly slim.”

All 68 of Meyer’s professional appearances in the regular season have come as a starter. He hasn’t worked out of the bullpen since his freshman year at the University of Kentucky.

“It’s a combination of getting a little behind early (due to his grandfather’s death),” Molitor said, “and the majority of our people think that he should be starting. Getting him stretched out to fill a starting spot, one way or another, is probably the right thing right now.”

Working in relief of Ricky Nolasco for the second time this spring, Meyer contributed a pair of scoreless innings in a 6-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. Topping out at 96.59 mph, according to the Trackman pitch-charting system, Meyer worked around a pair of leadoff hits (including a bloop double) and struck out two.

Meyer threw just two changeups, but he worked in a few more sinkers than normal and sat at 94 mph with his fastball. With two on in the fifth, Meyer blew away all-star outfielder Matt Holliday to end the threat.

“He faced some good hitters in some tough situations,” Molitor said. “Seemed like he had a little extra when he needed it. I was glad to see him stay poised.”

Meanwhile, Cardinals starter Michael Wacha made quick work of the Twins over the first three innings. That would be the same Wacha who became a postseason sensation in the Cardinals’ 2013 World Series run just months after breaking in as a reliever.

“If you look at what the Cardinals have done with (Adam) Wainwright or Wacha, these guys are coming up, going to the bullpen and now they’re impact starters,” Meyer said at TwinsFest. “Whatever it takes to help the Minnesota Twins. Whatever they think is going to help the team win, I’m up for any part of it.”

Those are hardly the only examples of young Cardinals pitchers to break in as temporary relievers before ultimately moving into the rotation. The same sort of thing happened in recent years with Lance Lynn, Carlos Martinez, Joe Kelly and even Shelby Miller to an extent.

“The Cardinals have done a heck of a job promoting (from within), especially pitching,” Twins general manager Terry Ryan said. “I think everybody would tell you that: ‘Man, those guys get pitching.’ And how do they do it? And how do they develop it? And what’s their secret? That’s what all of us ask.”

Wacha, Miller and Martinez were 21 when they broke in. Lynn and Kelly were 24.

“They’ve had so much success,” Ryan said. “Those guys that spend about one and a half years in the minor leagues, and all of a sudden you see them in a playoff game, that’s kind of what we’d all like to have happen.”

Wacha, drafted 19th overall out of Texas A&M in 2012, reached the majors less than a year later.

“They pitch quite well,” Ryan said of the Cardinals. “They draft well. They develop well. Their guys seem to be on board with everything they try to accomplish. They seem to have a constant flow.”

Meyer admittedly “didn’t throw well” out of the Kentucky bullpen. By the start of the Southeastern Conference season, he was in the rotation to stay.

“I think it’s different there (in the bullpen),” Meyer said in January. “You really didn’t know what to expect. I definitely think it’s something I could do, and I think I could be effective doing it.”

Saturday, he said no one from the Twins had told him a bullpen bid had been ruled out. All the attention remains on trying to win the final rotation spot.

“I don’t think they want anybody thinking into it too much,” Meyer said. “It’s just about going out there and getting people out. If you get people out, they’ll find a spot for you somewhere.”

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